Crystalline silica is a mineral that occurs naturally at most industrial plants, construction sites, and quarry workshops. Silica is an essential natural ingredient in sand, concrete, stone, and mortar contain crystalline silica and is essential to the production of glass, stoneware, ceramics, slabs, concrete, and artificial stone. Earthmoving equipment tends to contain silica as industrial sand used in, such as foundry work and hydraulic fracturing, is a source of crystalline silica.
Crystalline Silica is a leading cause of lung cancer
High-energy operations such as grinding, drilling and crushing of stone, rock, concrete, brick, block, and mortar with the help of earthmoving equipment suspend the silica crystals into the atmosphere, putting the nearby personnel at risk of ailments as mentioned earlier. Besides, activities inside a quarry workshop such as blasting, grinding cutting, or crushing stone generates respirable silica dust industrial vacuum cleaner.
Although employers use various engineering controls when handling crystalline silica-containing materials to mitigate exposure, silica dust is inevitable in most industrial operations, construction works, and quarry workshops. So are growing cases of lung cancer, other respiratory diseases, and kidney failure, 600 deaths a year and more than 900 new cases every year.
Read more: Effective removal of Silica dust from Earthmoving Equipment and Quarry workshop